Sunshine and Rain (Make A Beautiful Thing)
by Ciara2531
Summary: It started with a video game console.
1. I'm Oliver Queen

**A/N: Several weeks ago, I had this sliver of an idea; a A/U story where Oliver becomes a father at a young age. But Oliver being Oliver even in an alternate universe, he needs to have secrets, a certain amount of tragedy and a tendency to shield himself, even from the people who love him. I've fleshed out the back story and written far enough ahead that I feel comfortable starting to post it.**

**Please let me know what you guys think!**

* * *

"Felicity Smoak?"

Felicity looked up at the sound of her name and had to exert herself to prevent her jaw falling wide open. Standing in the doorway to her office was the most heart stoppingly attractive man she'd ever seen. He had clear, bright blue eyes and two-day-old stubble shadowed his strong jaw.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Oliver Queen."

Felicity blinked.

Oliver Queen.

Of course he was. His return to Starling City a few weeks ago had sent the tabloid press into a frenzy despite the fact that he'd kept a very low profile and had hardly been seen out in public.

"I know who you are," Felicity said. "Your mother talks about you non –stop. Not in an obnoxious way though. It's actually kind of sweet how much she's missed you and Thea too and now you're probably wondering why I know so much about your family. I swear it's not because…"

"You talk a lot lady," came a voice from slightly behind Oliver.

Felicity blinked again and shifted her eyes to the two little boys that she hadn't noticed. She knew that Oliver had twin sons and that they were seven, but the details about their mother and Oliver's decision to raise them away from Starling City – until now – were pretty scarce on the ground.

Felicity had gotten close to the Queen family thanks to the work she did for Walter or at least, closer than most people. She was invited to stay for dinner when she and Walter worked late from Queen manor, which had happened a handful of times. She and Thea hung out occasionally as well and Felicity had helped her with the security set up at the nightclub she ran.

"Luca, don't be rude," Oliver chastised lightly.

"But it's true," Luca argued.

"Grandpa Walter said you could fix my game," his brother interrupted, holding his portable game console out to Felicity.

"You must be Sebastian," Felicity deduced.

He nodded.

"Please don't let us inconvenience you," Oliver said with a crooked grin. "I'm sure you must have a lot to do but Walter did suggest we stop by on our way out…"

"It'll probably only take a minute," Felicity said, taking the toy from Sebastian.

She turned it over, examined the casing and then reaching for her tool kit promptly started to take the whole thing apart. She identified the problem – there was a connection loose in the circuitry – and was able to resolve it within minutes.

"Good as new," she said offering it back to Sebastian. It was then that she realized that he and his brother were both staring at her with eyes wide as saucers.

"That was awesome," Luca announced.

"Can you marry me?" Sebastian wanted to know.

Felicity choked on the unexpected laugh that bubbled up in her throat.

"How about you wait until you're old enough to drink before you start proposing to people?" Oliver suggested wryly. "And how about you say thank you to Felicity for fixing your game?"

"Thank you," Sebastian repeated dutifully. "I think my idea was better though. 'Cause then she could come live with us and…"

"Teach us how to take stuff apart and fix it," Luca concluded.

"I can see how that would work for you both," Oliver said. "But maybe Felicity already has a family."

"Uh no," Felicity said. "I mean, yes. I have parents and a sister but no kids or anything. I'm not seeing anyone. Not that I think that's what…"

"Felicity," Oliver said, meeting her eyes with his, a smile curving his lips. "Relax. Take a deep breath."

Felicity closed her eyes and mentally counted down from three.

"Sorry," she said, cracking one eye open. "I get a little…it's an old habit I can't quite break."

"We all have those," Oliver said. "We should probably get out of your hair. I promised these two monsters lunch at the aquarium."

"We're not monsters," Luca protested hotly.

"Tell it to someone who hasn't seen the state of your rec room," Oliver advised him.

"We're not," Luca insisted, turning towards Felicity to see if she believed him.

"I'm sure you're perfect angels," she told him.

Luca beamed at her.

"See?" he told his father. "She's on our side."

"I do see," Oliver said. "Come on, say good bye to Felicity."

"Bye!" the boys chorused.

"Bye," Felicity said.

"It was nice to meet you, Felicity," Oliver said.

He flashed her a grin and ushered the boys out of her office. Felicity stared, slightly dazed, at the space where they had been. To say that had been surreal would be understating it by…a lot. It was one thing to know of Oliver Queen. It was something else entirely to see him in the flesh, partly because his reputation as a reckless playboy was so at odds with the devoted dad who'd stood in front of her, but also because Felicity was pretty sure no words could accurately capture his magnetism; the effect of those electric blue eyes when they had been focused solely on her.

She was shaken back to reality by the sound of her cell phone ringing. She picked it up and grimaced when she saw the caller id. Knowing that if she didn't pick up, her mother would keep calling every five minutes until she did, Felicity took a deep breath and reluctantly answered the call.

"Hi, Mom," she said.

"Have you spoken to your sister yet?" Mara Smoak asked her youngest daughter. "She wanted to schedule the dress fitting. And then I was hoping you could come over tonight and help me sort out this guest list for the rehearsal dinner and…"

"Sorry, Mom, can't tonight," Felicity rushed to interject. "I have to work late."

"Must you?" Mara asked. "Francesca's wedding is less than two months away and…"

"I'm working on a special project for Mr. Steele so yes, I must," Felicity lied.

Mara sighed heavily.

"I suppose I can ask Linda to help," she said.

"Good idea," Felicity agreed. "Gotta go now, Mom. I'll call you later."

Felicity hung up and closed her eyes. She loved her mother and her sister both very dearly but this wedding had turned them into something straight out of a horror movie. Felicity was struggling to stay sane in the midst of it all.

"A special project for me, hmmm?" Walter Steele queried with a small smile.

Felicity lifted her head up to find her boss standing in the doorway.

"Sorry about that," she said. "Desperate times and measures and well, you know. Was there something I can help you with?"

"I was on my way out," Walter said. "But I flagged a couple things in this report that I want you to verify."

He handed her a folder.

"Why don't you look into it and bring your findings to Queen Manor?" Walter suggested. "You can join us for dinner."

"I wouldn't want to intrude," Felicity said. "I know your wife must be enjoying having Oliver and his family home and…"

"Nonsense," Walter said. "Moira loves you and I've already heard all about how impressed the twins were with you. They'll be delighted to see you again. Besides, I may have only met your mother once but she seems the type to turn up on your doorstep just to make sure you aren't home…"

Felicity groaned because it was exactly the type of thing her mother would do.

"Sold," she told Walter. "I'll be there at seven."

* * *

"It's good to be home, isn't it?" Moira asked her son as she joined him in the living room.

"Has its moments," Oliver said. "Drink?"

His mother nodded so he poured a small measure of scotch for them both and joined her on the sofa. Raisa had insisted on overseeing bath time for the boys so that Oliver could have a moment to himself.

"You'll get used to it," Moira said.

Oliver quirked an eyebrow.

"Letting other people help you," Moira expanded. "Letting them back into your life."'

"I see where you're going with this," Oliver said. "And it's not necessary. I'm…."

"Stubborn," Moira supplied with a smile. "I'm not pressuring you and I know you don't think I understand your reasons for staying away, for the distance you created but I understand more than you think."

It was possible, Oliver mused. His mother was an extremely perceptive woman but even with that said, Oliver found it hard to imagine that she could understand what he'd been thinking at the time. There were days he wasn't sure that he understood it himself.

He'd left Starling City when the scandal with his father had blown up. Robert Queen and Malcolm Merlyn had concocted a plot to completely obliterate The Glades and the layers of the conspiracy were so deep that it had taken god knew how many government agencies to put an end to it and even then, it had been too late for hundreds of people.

Even if Oliver had been a saint, it would have been hard to walk the streets of Starling City when the truth came out. But he was no saint and even with the lifestyle he'd pursued at the time – the parties, the drugs, the women, the sheer lack of responsibility for anything or anyone – he'd had enough clarity to realize it was untenable. And so he left.

"I'm here now," Oliver said, squeezing his mother's hand. "The rest doesn't matter so much."

Moira gave him another smile but it was still tinged with sadness. Oliver pretended not to notice and Moira's attention was diverted when Walter walked in. She rose to greet her husband with a kiss on the cheek.

"Good evening, Oliver," Walter said. "It was good to have you in the office today. I wish you'd consider coming on board in a more permanent capacity."

"I appreciate that," Oliver said. "But the timing just isn't right."

"The boys will have to start school soon," Moira pointed out. "What else are you going to do with your days?"

"What happened to no pressure?" Oliver teased her.

Moira rolled her eyes.

"It was an observation, that's all," she said.

"Where are the twins?" Walter asked. "I invited their new favorite person to join us for dinner."

"Felicity?" Moira surmised.

"They've been bending your ear as well, have they?" Walter asked her.

"Oh yes," Moira agreed. "I should warn you, Oliver. Since you thwarted his plan to make Felicity his bride, Sebastian has come up with a plan B."

"Do I even want to know?" Oliver asked.

"He thinks _you_ should marry her," Moira said.

Oliver choked on his drink causing both Moira and Walter to chuckle.

"Frankly," Moira said cheekily, "I'm inclined to agree with him."

"That's great," Oliver said. "Really."

He shook his head.

"Please don't encourage him," Oliver said. "I know that you're not being serious but it's not the first time either of the boys has brought up the idea or something like it and it just…things are complicated enough as it is. We don't need to drag a lovely young woman like Felicity into it."

Moira and Walter exchanged a look but before either of them could say anything the twins burst into the room clamoring for their grandparent's attention. Raisa followed them at a more sedate pace and she smiled at Oliver.

"You taught them to speak Russian," she said, clearly pleased.

He returned the smile.

"It was my way of sharing the better parts of my childhood with them," Oliver replied in the language they were discussing.

"They're good boys," Raisa said. "You should be proud."

Oliver turned his attention to his sons. Luca was perched on Walter's knee and his little fingers were skating across an iPad at high speed. Sebastian meanwhile was regaling his grandmother with tales of that afternoon's trip to the aquarium.

They were bright, inquisitive, and he liked to think that they were well adjusted, given the circumstances.

"I am," he said.

"There's nothing of their mother in them," Raise observed.

"No," Oliver agreed.

The boys were mini versions of him with very little resemblance to the woman who gave birth to them and for that Oliver was grateful. He could only hope the lack of resemblance continued to extend below the surface as well.

The doorbell rang.

"That's probably Felicity," Walter said, earning gleeful shrieks from Sebastian and Luca both.

"Settle down," Moira said. "You don't want to scare her away."

The twins looked horrified by the prospect and Oliver shook his head.

"Why don't I get the door," he suggested.

Pushing himself off the couch, he strode into the foyer and opened the front door.

Felicity cocked her head to one side.

"Oliver Queen," she said slowly.

She stared at him and Oliver had the odd sensation that she was taking his measure. He wasn't entirely sure he knew what conclusion he wanted her to come to.

"Felicity Smoak," Oliver said, equally slowly.

A small smile curved her lips.

"You remembered," Felicity said.

"You sound surprised," Oliver said.

"I am," Felicity admitted. "But it's a good surprise."

"Then let's hope it's the first of many," Oliver replied.


	2. Train Wars & A Favor

**A/N: The response to this story has been unbelievably amazing! Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it. I feel it's only fair of me to warn you that this story (in the beginning at least) is going to go back and forth between lighter and heavier moments, which you'll understand a bit better after this chapter. So it's all about the balance and hopefully I manage it well.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Oliver jerked his head in the direction of the foyer.

"Come on in," he said.

Felicity had no sooner stepped past the threshold than the twins were racing towards her. An arched eyebrow from their father was enough to slow them down but not by much.

"Hi," Luca said brightly.

"Hey," Felicity said.

Sebastian gave her a shy smile but walked over and reached for her hand.

"Luca and me played train wars," he told her. "Come see the tracks."

"We _wrecked_ 'em," Luca said gleefully. "And all the buildings that were inside came crashing down."

"You can help us build them again, if you want," Sebastian offered.

Oliver crouched down so that he was eye level with the twins and he murmured something in a low voice, which sent both boys scampering towards the kitchen.

"Sorry about that," Oliver said. "They can be...a lot to handle but it's only because they really like you. You won them over with your technical prowess"

"There's no need to apologize," Felicity said. "I don't mind."

"You said before you don't have kids of your own," Oliver said as they moved towards the living room. "Nieces or nephews?"

Felicity shook her head.

"Not yet," she said. "My sister is getting married in two months though so it could happen soon, I guess."

"Is the wedding really only two months away now?" Moira asked, catching the end of the conversation and moving to give Felicity a quick hug.

"What do you mean "only"," Felicity joked. "I'm pretty sure this will be the longest eight weeks of my life."

She shot Walter a speculative look.

"I don't suppose you could find a reason to send me to...Australia or something until it's all over with?" she asked.

Walter laughed.

"Again," he said. "I may have only met your mother once but it was enough to know that I don't care to be the object of her wrath."

Felicity sighed.

"I see how it is," she said. "I'm on my own against Bridezilla and well, whatever you call the mother of Bridezilla."

"Not a fan of weddings?" Oliver asked her.

"Not a fan of the pod people that have possessed my mother and sister while they're planning the wedding," Felicity corrected. "I mean, I love them both but sometimes...it's a lot."

Oliver smiled at her use of his earlier turn of phrase.

"I can relate," he said, giving his mother a pointed look.

"I don't think I care for that implication," Moira said. "You all behave while I go check on dinner."

"I have that information you wanted," Felicity told Walter.

"It can wait until after we eat," Walter replied.

He turned to Oliver.

"Have you heard from your sister today?" he asked.

"I have not," Oliver said. "I assumed she was at Verdant."

"Hmmm," Walter agreed. "Let me give her call, just to be on the safe side."

Oliver bit back a smile.

"He's a good guy," Felicity ventured. "Mr. Steele, I mean."

"If you're being invited over for dinner, I'm pretty sure you can call him Walter," Oliver teased her gently. "And yes, he is. He's been good to my mother and to Thea, which I appreciate."

Any response Felicity might have offered was staved off by the boys returning to the room, each of them clutching a small bouquet of flowers. The interruption was perfectly timed because Felicity was pretty sure that commenting on the gazillion emotional walls Oliver Queen clearly had up was probably not considered acceptable small talk.

"Are these for me?" Felicity asked.

The twins nodded practically in unison as they pressed the flowers into her palm and then insisted on showing her their rec room. It was every bit the mess Oliver had implied it was but Felicity loved it. She also considered it proof that whatever his emotional baggage, Oliver doted on his sons. They were clearly happy and well loved.

Just another piece of the puzzle, Felicity thought to herself. Not that she was planning to try and solve him or anything because that would just be asking for trouble.

"There you are," Moira said, standing in the doorway. "Dinner time."

The meal itself passed in a blur of good food, laughs and general all around good humor. It was amazing, Felicity thought to herself, what a difference it made having children in the house. Moira and Walter were both more animated that Felicity could remember seeing them and the boys chattered a mile a minute, seemingly about everything that passed through their minds.

On more than one occasion though, Felicity found her attention drifting to Oliver. He was smiling and at the same time, it felt like he was observing the situation rather than living it. Secrets, Felicity thought to herself. Oliver Queen clearly had many of them and they were taking a toll. Or at least, she imagined they might be. It was probably better off if she didn't think about it too much. It wasn't any of her business, after all.

Her resolve held until she was about to leave Queen Manor. Oliver had excused himself to put the boys to bed hours ago, not long before Felicity and Walter had retreated to his office to review the information she had uncovered and determine next steps. She hadn't expected that she would see him again, at least not that night.

"Do you have a minute?" he asked her.

His voice was low, serious and Felicity's interest was piqued.

"Sure," she said. "Listen if this is about me agreeing to teach the boys about how to hack stuff then you really…"

"It's not about Sebastian and Luca," Oliver said. "Or at least, not in the way you mean."

He indicated the side door that led out into the gardens and Felicity followed him outside without protest. They'd walked for several moments before Oliver spoke again.

"You don't really know me," he finally said. "And there's no reason for you to…"

He paused and then turned to face her. Night had fallen but there was enough of a glow from the moon and the strategically placed lights surrounding them for Felicity to see the shadows in his eyes. It inspired the strangest desire in her to try to comfort him, to alleviate the weight and the pain of the burdens he was carrying.

"I need a favor," Oliver said. "I need you to run a background check on someone."

"Lots of people can run background checks," Felicity pointed out. "Why would you ask me?"

Oliver didn't answer the question directly.

"I don't…trust a lot of people," he said. "But Walter and my mother both obviously trust you so I'm going to trust you too. I _need_ to trust you because my sons need to be protected."

"From what?" Felicity asked.

She cocked her head to one side.

"Or from who?" she added.

Oliver nodded at the second question, letting Felicity know she'd hit the mark.

"From their grandfather," Oliver said.

"Their mother's father," Felicity surmised. "Who is he?"

"Frank Bertinelli," Oliver said.

* * *

A week later, Felicity was still trying to wrap her mind around the bombshell that Oliver had dropped. She'd wanted to ask _so_ many questions but she'd restrained herself, instinctively certain that Oliver wouldn't welcome the curiosity.

The fact that he'd told her anything at all, especially when he admitted to keeping the secret from his mother and Walter, was remarkable all on its own. Felicity was still trying to wrap her mind around that too. Oliver had taken a huge risk confiding in her and she couldn't quite figure out what had possessed him.

Walter and Moira's vote of confidence was part of it but Felicity suspected there was more. Trying to isolate what "more" was only led her thoughts around in circles so she opted to focus on the name that Oliver had given her.

Nick Salvati.

She'd collected all the obvious stuff; crimes, aliases, prison time, known associates and that sort of stuff. Now she was starting to dig deeper. She was about to hack into a Federal database when there was a knock on her apartment door. Sighing, she picked up her glass of wine and went to answer it.

"You're avoiding me," Francesca announced, sweeping her way in.

"I saw you this morning," Felicity pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, let me rephrase," Francesca said. "You're avoiding all the wedding stuff and at first I thought it was just because you've never been into the…frivolity of it all, I guess."

She cocked her head to one side as she settled onto the couch.

"Then I thought maybe it was because Mom has been so intense about everything," Francesca continued. "I even wondered if she'd started to put pressure on you about when _you're_ getting married."

Felicity barely avoided choking on her wine.

"I think 'never' is a great time to get married," Felicity said.

"You don't mean that," Francesca countered.

"What makes you so sure?" Felicity asked.

"Because, you might not be into the frills," Francesca said. "But I think you like the idea of marriage, of having a real partner in life."

Felicity narrowed her eyes, not sure how she felt about her sister's relatively accurate assessment.

"All this to say that I don't think the distance is about the wedding," Francesca finished. "I think there's something else going on with you and I may be a bride to be but I'm still your big sister. So spill."

"I appreciate the concern," Felicity said slowly. "But I'm fine. There's a lot going on at work so I'm just busy."

"When was the last time you got laid?" Francesca asked.

"None of your business," Felicity sputtered.

Francesca arched an eyebrow.

"A while," Felicity said in exasperation. "What of it?"

"Maybe you just need to find a guy who turns you on and cut loose a little," Francesca replied.

Unfortunately for Felicity, her sister's words immediately conjured up images of Oliver Queen and his startling blues eyes, chiseled jaw and sculpted lips. She snapped herself out of it, but not fast enough.

"You met someone!" Francesca exclaimed.

"I have not," Felicity denied, plainly irritated now with her sister's powers of observation. "Can you please do me a favor and back off? This time in your life should be all about you and your wedding and your future husband and your future life. Can you focus on that and just leave me…"

"Alone?" Francesca supplied, looking a little hurt.

"No, that's not what I was going to say," Felicity said. "I don't want to be left alone or left out. I just don't want everyone analyzing my life by comparison. Contrary to belief or appearances, I'm happy."

"Okay," Francesca said. "I understand that. I worry because I care and because I think there's so much more out there for you. Promise me you'll be open to whatever comes along, okay?"

Felicity gave her sister a small smile.

"Deal," she said.

Francesca stood up and gathered her bags. She gave Felicity a hug and opened the door only to run right into Oliver who had been poised to knock.

Oliver glanced between Felicity and the taller brunette eyeing him in shock.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked carefully.

"I wasn't expecting you," Felicity said.

"I know," Oliver said. "Sorry about that. Walter gave me your address and I was around so…"

He glanced back at the woman who was still staring at him.

"I'm Oliver," he offered. "And you are?"

"Felicity's sister Francesca," she replied. "It's nice to meet you, Oliver Queen."

Oliver gave her a polite smile. Felicity could practically see the real Oliver disappear inside himself. She'd have to work out later exactly when she'd decided that she knew anything about the "real Oliver" but for now, she was determined to put an end to the awkwardness.

"Don't you have a cake tasting to get to?" she asked her sister.

"Cute," Francesca drawled. "You're not off the hook. Not by a long shot."

"Good night," Felicity said, firmly.

Francesca gave her a casual wave and left. Felicity closed the door behind her and turned to face Oliver.

"Sorry about that," she said.

"It's fine," Oliver said. "I shouldn't have dropped by unannounced."

"So why did you?" Felicity asked curiously.

"I try to avoid phones as much as possible," Oliver said. "At least when talking about…"

"Got it," Felicity said. "Well you're timing wasn't all bad. I was about to dig into some federal files."

Oliver arched an eyebrow and Felicity arched one back.

"You don't really think the kind of information you're after can be obtained entirely legally, do you?" she asked. "Cause if that's the case then…"

"What kind of information is it you think I'm after?" Oliver questioned.

Felicity shrugged.

"Like I said before, any one can run a background check," she said. "And if he's connected to Bertinelli, you already know Salvati is bad news. I just assumed you were looking for something more. Something…"

"Something…" Oliver prompted.

"Something you can use," Felicity said. "Something that will help you protect the twins."

Oliver sucked in a quiet breath, a little bit stunned by how easily Felicity had cut through all the smoke and mirrors and straight to the heart of the matter. He had the oddest sensation that even though she had no idea what was going on, she somehow _understood._

"You assumed right," Oliver said. "I want to know what I'm up against."

Felicity nodded and then gave him a slightly apologetic look.

"I want to help you, Oliver," she told him sincerely. "But…"

"It's dangerous," Oliver interjected. "You don't want to get involved. I understand and I…."

"No," Felicity cut in. "I _want_ to help you. It's just that I need to know what I'm up against, too."

Oliver frowned.

"Meaning what?" he asked.

"Meaning I need to know why you think Bertinelli is such a threat," Felicity said. "What's he done to make you think he'd come after the boys?"

"He killed his own daughter," Oliver said. "He killed Helena."


	3. Tell Me Or Don't

**A/N:** Thank you all again for your continued response to this story. I'm going to be really nervous about how this story plays to audience until we hit chapter 7 so your feedback is invaluable. Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Oliver tried his best to keep his emotions locked down as he watched Felicity stumble backwards. He couldn't blame her for being shocked. He'd been that and more when he'd first put the pieces together; understood that Helena's accident – that time at least – had been anything but.

"I shouldn't have said that," Oliver said stiffly. "I don't want to drown you in the details. That's not why I asked for your help. I…"

He broke off, not sure what to say next and realizing – far too late – that it had been naïve of him to think he could involve her without _involving _her.

"It's been just me," he finally continued. "For a long time, it's been just me making the decisions and doing what I think is best for them. I haven't had to consult or rely on anyone else and that's mostly how I've wanted it."

"But it's a lot," Felicity said.

"It is," Oliver agreed.

He considered his words as he moved towards her couch and sat down. After a brief hesitation, Felicity moved to sit next to him, careful to keep a respectable distance between them.

"You confuse me," Oliver said. "I hardly know you and the rational part of my brain is telling me that pulling you into this was a mistake, if for no other reason than it exposes you to something that could be dangerous and that could get you hurt or worse. You don't deserve that."

Felicity reflected on that for a moment before responding.

"And the irrational part of you?" she asked quietly.

"That part thinks that even though you don't look it, you might actually be tough enough to take the truth," Oliver said honestly. "And that telling you the whole twisted story could be one of the smartest decisions I ever make."

"Well, you're right about me being tougher than I look," Felicity offered. "But Oliver, you don't have to tell me anything that you don't want to. I mean, obviously anything you _do_ tell me is just between us but…asking for my help doesn't mean you owe me anything. You don't need to justify yourself. I know why you're doing this and so long as you tell me enough to help me help you then I don't need more."

Oliver cocked his head to one side.

"Felicity," he said. "You are remarkable."

She gave him a grin that Oliver could only describe as impish.

"Thank you for remarking on it," she said. "Hey, can I get you a drink? I have wine."

"Beer by any chance?" Oliver asked.

"Only a couple of bottles of Coors Light left over from a pizza party last week," Felicity said.

Oliver made a face.

"Vodka?" he asked.

"Yes, I have vodka," Felicity said.

"Neat, then," Oliver said. "Thanks."

Felicity disappeared into the kitchen and Oliver took advantage to pay more attention to her apartment. The décor was quirky and colorful and seemed to accurately reflect her personality or at least what little he knew of it.

His eyes were taking in the framed comic books on the walls when Felicity returned. She handed him a tumbler of vodka and followed his gaze.

Her lips twitched.

"I'm kind of a geek," she admitted. "My dad was obsessed with comics – still is actually – and since he and my mom couldn't have more kids after me, he started indoctrinating me at an early age."

Oliver gave her a small smile and took a sip of his drink. Felicity settled back into the overstuffed chair where she'd left her computer. Putting her freshly topped up glass of wine on the side table, she got comfortable and turned her attention back to Oliver.

"So," she said. "You up for this? Because we don't…"

"I'm fine," Oliver interrupted. "What do you need? For now, anyway."

Felicity nodded her understanding.

"If would help if I knew how he landed on your radar," Felicity said. "Did you always know about him or did something happen?"

"A bit of both," Oliver said. "Helena mentioned him once or twice, never in any great detail but enough for me to know he was close to her father."

"Got it," Felicity said.

"Before we came back to Starling City, the boys and I were living on a ranch in Colorado," Oliver said. "Small town. I thought it would keep us off the grid."

"It didn't," Felicity surmised.

"He didn't make direct contact," Oliver said, clenching his fists. "In some ways that infuriates me more than anything."

"He didn't make a move," Felicity said. "He just wanted you to know he could."

"Exactly," Oliver said.

Felicity digested the new information. It helped to explain why Oliver had chosen now to come back to Starling City. If he could draw Bertinelli here, he would at least be giving himself home court advantage.

"Do you know who he did make contact with in the town you were living in?" Felicity asked.

"It was a place called Dove Creek," Oliver supplied. "And yes. He left a message for me at the post office. Told people he was a friend of Helena's trying to reconnect."

More curious than ever about Helena, her death and her relationship with Oliver, Felicity never the less restrained herself from crossing the line that she and Oliver had established less than a half hour ago. Instead, she focused on traffic in and out of Dove Creek. The problem was there weren't an enormous number of traffic cameras to work with so Felicity hacked into archive footage from a number of satellites. Fingers flying over the keyboard, she was eventually able track down a dozen or so rental cars that had made the trek from Cortez, where the nearest airport was located around the time that Oliver had indicated. She cross referenced surveillance camera footage from the different rental car operators in the airport with the image she'd obtained of Salvati from his prison records until she got a hit.

She glanced up at Oliver.

"You don't have to stay you know," she said. "Not that I'm kicking you out or anything but I could be at this a while."

"I don't mind," Oliver said. "The boys are with my mother and Raisa. Having family is a bit of a novelty still. I think they like it."

"It has its advantages," Felicity quipped.

"Your sister looks nothing like you," Oliver observed.

"Oh, you mean on account of how she's tall and gorgeous and looks like she just stepped off a runway?" Felicity said.

"No, that's not what I meant," Oliver said. "She just seems so put together."

"As opposed to me who is a total mess?" Felicity said, biting back a laugh at Oliver's semi frustrated, semi exasperated expression.

"I'm clearly more out of practice than I thought," Oliver said. "What I was trying – and failing miserably to get at – is that you seem more…comfortable in your own skin."

He rubbed a hand over his jaw.

"It's the kind of thing I notice," he said. "On account of how long it took me to get to that place. Some days, I'm not even sure I'm there."

"That makes sense," Felicity said.

"Does it?" Oliver asked wryly.

Felicity shrugged.

"You're a lot of different things to a lot of different people," she said. "Makes sense to me that it's not always easy to remember which of those things is actually _you_."

Their eyes locked and Felicity felt like Oliver was examining her under a microscope. She felt exposed in a way and yet oddly secure. She wasn't sure how long they would have stared at each other if his phone hadn't rung.

He answered it without looking away but when he realized it was Luca on the other end, his attention shifted exclusively to his son. The tension in his shoulders dissipated after a few moments so Felicity assumed nothing was wrong. She turned back to her computer and her research in order not to intrude.

She was so focused that she didn't notice when Oliver finished his call but eventually the sensation of being watched had her looking over at him.

"The boys want you to come out with us next Saturday," Oliver said abruptly. "Picnic and planetarium."

"You don't sound thrilled," Felicity pointed out.

"It's not that," Oliver said. "It's…"

He stood up and moved restlessly toward the window.

"They never knew their mother," Oliver said quietly, turning back around to face her. "And while I regret that she died, that she was killed, I'm not entirely sure I regret that they don't have any memories of her. I'm not sure what that says about me but the point is, there's this void in their lives that I can't fill. I see how quickly they've taken to you and I know how rare that is for them."

"You're worried they'll get attached," Felicity said.

"Yeah," Oliver said. "And there's nothing wrong with that happening but before it does I need to be sure that…"

"I'm ready for it," Felicity said.

"Are you?" Oliver asked.

"Well, I don't know anything about being a parent or even a cool aunt," Felicity said. "But I've been told that I'm a good friend to have and I'm definitely ready to be that."

She offered him a small smile.

"To them and to you," she said. "So why don't we start there and see how things go?"

"Saturday at 1, then," Oliver said.

"Done deal," Felicity agreed.

The alert on her laptop pinged and Felicity studied the screen.

"What is it?" Oliver demanded, seeing her expression shift.

"I think," Felicity said slowly. "That I might have found Frank Bertinelli."

* * *

"Please tell me we're almost done here," Felicity muttered under her breath at the seamstress who was adjusting her bridesmaid dress.

She was standing on a small stool feeling incredibly awkward.

"Ten more minutes," the seamstress said in her lightly accented English.

Felicity groaned.

"Stop being such a grouch," Francesca said as she made notes in the margins of her checklist. "This is my wedding. I plan for it to be the only one I have so the least you can do is put up with a few fittings."

"A few?" Felicity retorted. "I'm pretty sure this is the seventh fitting. I'm also pretty sure this is the third dress."

"Fourth," the seamstress contributed helpfully.

"My wedding," Francesca repeated. "Say it like a mantra if it helps."

"You want to help?" Felicity asked. "Then promise me that you're not dragging me on any more errands today."

"Not unless you count coming to lunch with me and Liam, his mother and his brother as an errand," Francesca said sweetly.

"What?" Felicity said. "No. You did _not_ say anything about lunch with your fiancée and future in laws. And why aren't you making Mom go?"

"Oh I am," Francesca assured her. "But Liam says his brother, Barry, is all into technology and gadgets so I figured the two of you would hit it off."

"You cannot be serious," Felicity said, twisting to gape at her sister.

Francesca rolled her eyes.

"Relax Sivvy," she said. "It's not a blind date, although god knows setting you up wouldn't be the worst idea I've ever had."

"That only speaks to incredible number of truly bad ideas that you've had in the past," Felicity snarked. "And do not call me Sivvy."

"Whatever," Francesca said. "I'm just saying if you dated more you might not be so cranky."

She put her pen down and gave her sister a knowing look.

"Unless there's more to Oliver Queen showing up at your apartment than you let on," she said.

"Oliver Queen?" the seamstress asked, dropping a mouthful of pins in her haste for gossip.

Felicity shot a glare at her sister.

"We are not talking about that," she said. "And definitely not here."

The seamstress sniffed but returned her attention to Felicity's hem.

"Interesting," Francesca said.

"No," Felicity insisted. "It's really not."

"Then why do you have two missed calls from a OQ?" Francesca asked arching her eyebrow and holding up Felicity's cell phone. "Seriously sis, if you're trying to be sneaky you could have at least given him a secret code name more complicated than his initials."

Felicity bit her tongue – literally – to keep from venting the full extension of her frustration. After she'd explained to Oliver about how she'd used cell phone signals and records to pinpoint a plausible location on Bertinelli in a suburb of Miami, he'd made her promise not to do breathe a word to anyone – not that she would have anyway – and then he'd disappeared.

She'd been worried ever since about what he was planning to do next.

"All done," the seamstress said.

"Thank god," Felicity said.

She hopped off the stool, snatched her cell phone from her sister's grasp and disappeared into the changing room. As tempted as she was to dial Oliver immediately, she wanted privacy for that conversation and she knew she wasn't going to get it with her sister in earshot. Instead, she made short work of changing back into her jeans and fuchsia top.

She picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. Francesca fell into step beside her as they left the shop.

"I made reservations at Le Marais," Francesca said. "We can walk."

"I'll meet you there," Felicity said.

"Uh, no," Francesca said. "Lunch is in 20 minutes and it'll take us exactly that amount of time to walk there and be settled when Liam arrives with his family. It's important that we be there first."

Felicity closed her eyes briefly and then fixed her sister with a firm stare.

"I will meet you there," she repeated. "Unless you don't lay off me right now in which case I won't show up at all. Is that clear?"

"As crystal," Francesca snapped. "Go on then, go return Oliver Queen's phone call. I'm sure that throwing yourself at the billionaire playboy who would never in a million years go for a girl like you is a better use of your time than being there for your sister when she needs you."

Felicity felt like she'd been slapped and it must have shown because Francesca's face fell and she reached out a hand.

Felicity took a step back out of her reach.

"I'm sorry," Francesca said. "I didn't mean that. I'm just…"

"Forget it," Felicity said, turning away. "I'll see you whenever."

She disappeared into the crowed streets, thoughts of returning Oliver's phone call temporarily pushed aside. Instead she found herself playing Francesca's words in a loop inside her mind. Obviously, she knew she wasn't throwing herself at Oliver. She also knew that there was a lot more to him than the billionaire playboy most people remembered him as.

But the part about him never in a million years going for a girl like her was the part that she couldn't ignore. Because it was the truth and Felicity had always considered herself a realist. So why then, did she feel so disappointed?


	4. Bright Spots

**A/N: **I think this chapter starts to balance out some of the heavier stuff in the first few chapters. I really enjoyed writing it so I hope you all enjoy reading it.

Best wishes to everyone for the holiday season as well. Here's to a happy, healthy 2014 and more Olicity than we can handle (as if there could be such a thing).

* * *

Felicity leaned back on her elbows and watched as Oliver and the twins ran up and down chasing a soccer ball. Oliver collapsed onto the grass in an exaggerated heap after allowing Sebastian to tackle him, earning delighted laughter from both boys.

Whatever conflicted feelings she'd had after the fight with Francesca earlier in the week, she was over them. She couldn't exactly deny that she was attracted to Oliver. He was an extraordinary specimen and she'd basically have to be dead not to feel the effects of his good looks. But he was also proving to be an extraordinary man and Felicity was much more invested in earning his trust and building a solid friendship with him than she was in fantasizing about something that was not going to happen.

They'd had a chance to talk about what his next move was going to be regarding Bertinelli and Felicity actually felt pretty good about it. He'd told her about the former marine he first met in Los Angeles not long after Helena got pregnant. Oliver had assured her that he would trust John Diggle not just with his own life but if it came to it, with Luca and Sebastian's lives as well. That was good enough for Felicity and she was looking forward to meeting the man when he got to town next week.

What exactly would happen after that, she wasn't sure but she was willing to wait. Especially if it meant that in the meantime, she got to enjoy seeing this other side to Oliver. He was relaxed; cracking jokes and goofing around with the twins, quick to utter praise or encouragement and always attentive to the shifting moods or needs of one or the other.

Felicity was pulled out of her thoughts when Sebastian bounded in her direction then skidded to a stop on his knees next to her.

"Hi!" he said.

"Hey," Felicity smiled. "How about some water?"

Sebastian nodded so Felicity reached into the cooler for a bottle of water. She uncapped it and handed it over. Sebastian drank several gulps before handing it back to her.

"Your hair is pretty," he announced, reaching for a handful.

"Thank you," Felicity said. "Wanna know a secret?"

"Duh," Sebastian said, as if she should know that seven-year-old boys lived for secrets.

"The color comes from a box," Felicity said. "Like magic."

"We did that one time," Sebastian told her. "Me and Luca made our hair change color from a box."

"You did?" Felicity asked.

"Well, Dad did," Sebastian amended. "It was for Halloween."

"One of my favorite holidays," Felicity said. "What did you dress up as?"

"I was the Joker," Sebastian said. "And Luca was Batman."

"What did your Dad dress up as?" Felicity wanted to know.

Sebastian shrugged.

"Some guy with arrows," he said, clearly unimpressed. "Can I have a cookie?"

"We should probably have lunch food first, don't you think?" Felicity said.

"Dad always lets us eat dessert first," Sebastian said.

"Somehow I doubt that," Felicity said.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Oliver asked, dropping down next to them, Luca tucked into a secure hold under his arm.

"Talking about Halloween escapades," Felicity said.

Luca squirmed free from his father and wriggled his way between Sebastian and Felicity so he was pressed to her side.

"I scored two goals," he informed her proudly.

"I saw them," Felicity agreed. "Great job! You must be hungry after all that."

"Yeah," Luca said. "Babulya made blinchikis."

"Raisa," Oliver clarified, seeing Felicity's puzzled expression. "She made one of the twin's favorite dishes and incidentally one of the few things I learned how to cook before they were born. She taught me when I was kid because they were _my_ favorite."

"You're really close to her, aren't you?" Felicity said, as she helped Oliver unpack all the food.

"She's like a second mother to me," Oliver confirmed.

He handed her one of the fried pancakes.

"Try this one," he said. "Potato and chive."

"Oh that's good," Felicity said after her first bite. "Incredible, actually."

Oliver smiled at her and Felicity couldn't help it that her heart stuttered and skipped a beat, even as she smiled back. The man was magnetic and there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it. Luckily, Luca distracted her. Unfortunately, it turned out to signal an early end to this particular part of their outing.

"Daddy?" Luca said. "Why are those people taking pictures of us?"

Oliver immediately whipped around, every inch of him radiating alpha male on alert. He was partly relieved that the culprits didn't appear to be linked to Bertinelli or any of his crew but then doubly annoyed that random strangers felt they had a right to infringe on his privacy just because he happened to be out in public.

"Those people have really boring lives," Felicity answered Luca for him. "So they try to borrow from other people who do cool, interesting stuff like you guys and your dad."

"And you," Sebastian added.

"I don't do that much cool stuff," Felicity said, keeping the boys attention while Oliver silently packed up the picnic.

"Grandpa Walter says you have a numbers machine in your brain," Luca said. "That's pretty cool."

Felicity laughed.

"Well, maybe I should take you into my super secret lair," Felicity said. "Then I can take my brain out and show it to you."

Both boys stared at her with wide eyes.

"Really?" they breathed, practically in unison.

"No, not really," Felicity said, with an apologetic smile. "Sorry guys."

"Time to go," Oliver said.

That earned him identical looks of displeasure from both of his sons so he went straight for the bribery card.

"We can go get ice cream," he offered.

Predictably, that did the trick.

"Ice cream sundaes?" Luca pressed.

"Sure," Oliver said, herding the boys across the park towards the street where they were parked.

"It's more fun when we make them," Sebastian pointed out.

"Not sure that we have everything we need at home," Oliver said. "We could go to the grocery store but…"

"We can go to my apartment," Felicity suggested. "I don't ever, not have the ingredients for ice cream sundaes."

"You don't have to…" Oliver began.

"I don't mind," Felicity said. "Honestly."

"Daddy, can we?" Sebastian demanded.

"Please?" Luca added.

Oliver shook his head.

"Fine," he said. "Promise me you're going to be on your best behavior. We don't want Felicity to think that your dear old dad didn't teach you any manners."

"Promise," the boys chorused.

"My life is going to be a nightmare when they're old enough to date, isn't it?" Oliver murmured to Felicity.

"No," Felicity said.

Oliver arched an eyebrow.

"It'll happen _before_ they're old enough to date," Felicity teased.

"So helpful," Oliver retorted. "Thanks for that."

"Anytime," Felicity said.

She helped him secure the boys into the backseat and then he opened the passenger door for her. Twenty minutes later they were walking through the door of her apartment and the boys were instantly fascinated by everything from the comic books on the wall to her aquarium of tropical fish.

Felicity left them to explore and headed towards the kitchen to collect the items required for epic ice cream sundae making. After assessing the room to make sure there wasn't anything the twins could ruin – accidentally or on purpose – and with an extra word of caution, Oliver followed her.

"You didn't have to do this," he said quietly.

"Maybe I wanted to," Felicity said. "Not everything has an ulterior motive."

Oliver started to speak but Felicity cut him off.

"Granted I get that's not a huge part of your personal experience," she added. "But in this case, it's true. The best part of today has been seeing you relax with them and smile. No reason to let a TMZ obsessed tween ruin the day."

"Okay," Oliver said.

"Okay?" Felicity questioned.

"Felicity, I grew up with Thea for a sister," Oliver said, with a crooked grin. "I learned a long time ago when it's in my best interest not to argue with a woman."

Felicity smothered a laugh and called out to the twins.

"Come on you two," she said. "I need help carrying all these goodies to the table."

The four of them had just started making a proper mess of ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate in more or less equal proportions in four bowls when the doorbell rang.

"I got it," Felicity said, reaching for a dishtowel to wipe her hands. She crossed to the front door and opened it only to wish she hadn't.

"Don't give me that look Siobhán Felicity Smoak," Mara said, striding into the living room. "You may be a grown woman but I am still your mother. Now this fight with your sister…"

"Mom, now is not a good time," Felicity said.

"I don't care what time it is," Mara said. "We're going to…"

"Everything okay over there?" Oliver asked, breaking into Mara's tirade.

The older woman turned around and her eyes widened.

Felicity sighed.

"Mom, this is my friend Oliver," she said. "And his sons Luca and Sebastian."

The twins turned around at the sound of their names and Felicity found her mood lifting just at the sight of their faces covered in chocolate and sprinkles. Luca even had a bit of whipped cream in his hair.

"This," Felicity finished, "is my mother, Mara Smoak."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Smoak," Oliver said. "I'd offer to shake hands but…"

He gestured to the table.

"Ice cream sundaes," Mara said, walking over to them. "When she was a little girl, Felicity took one of my roasting pans and put two gallons of ice cream, an entire can of whipped cream and god only knows how much caramel sauce into it. Then she tried to eat it all. Poor thing was sick for three days."

"Gee thanks for sharing that, Mom," Felicity said. "Really."

"I bet you were adorable," Oliver said.

"Highly doubtful," Felicity said.

Oliver glanced back and forth between Felicity and her mother. There was obviously tension and he'd picked up something about a fight between Felicity and her sister earlier.

"I think it's probably time for us to clean this mess up and get going," he said.

"No!" Luca shrieked. "I don't want to leave yet!"

"Me either," Sebastian said. "I want to stay with Felicity."

"You'll see her again soon," Oliver said.

"When?" Luca wanted to know.

"We're having a family dinner tomorrow at my house," Mara said. "Why don't you and the boys join us?"

Oliver narrowed his eyes slightly. He sensed that Mara meant well but he also sensed when he was being manipulated.

"I think that should be up to Felicity," Oliver said easily.

Mara turned an expectant look on her daughter but Oliver intervened.

"Call me later," he said to Felicity. "We can talk about it then."

He glanced down at his sons; Luca was pouting and Sebastian looked like he was gearing up for one of his rather rare temper tantrums. He crouched down so that he was eye level with them, something he always did when he needed to be particularly firm with them, and switched to Russian.

"You are going put your dishes in the sink and you're going to thank Felicity for spending time with us today and for bringing you here to make sundaes," Oliver said. "And you are _not_ going to embarrass her in front of her mother by acting like spoiled brats because that's not how friends treat each other. And Felicity's our friend now, right?"

"Yeah," Sebastian sighed.

"Okay," Oliver said, straightening to his full height. The boys followed his instructions to the letter and Oliver had just finished cleaning the last remnants of the mess from the dining table when he spied Felicity bending down so that Sebastian and Luca could throw their arms around her.

Entirely unexpectedly, he felt something shift in his chest. It was an impossible knot of feelings. There was something about Felicity and his kids together, not just now but all day today; at the planetarium, the way she so effortlessly shared little facts and bits of information with them, at the park the way she'd fussed at them to hold still while she put sunscreen on them and dozens of other things besides.

And then there were his own reactions to consider. She was constantly surprising him and he was constantly surprising himself with how much he felt comfortable revealing to her. With the surprise came the confusion. How much of this was down to an actual connection between them and how much of it was him projecting his sons' affection for her, he couldn't be certain.

He said goodbye to Felicity's mother and the twins followed suit. They headed for the door and Oliver heard Felicity whisper something to her mother before she followed them.

"Thanks for today," Oliver said.

"I'm just sorry we got interrupted," Felicity said opening the door.

"Family first," Oliver said. "I get it."

Impulsively, he pressed a kiss to her cheek, amused to see the pink flush that immediately crept up her cheeks.

"I didn't know girls still did that," he teased her.

"Get over yourself, Queen," Felicity said, but she was smiling. "I'll call tonight."

"I'll be waiting," Oliver said.

"Me too," Sebastian said.

"No, me too," Luca said.

"Well if we don't get home," Oliver said, "there won't be any point in her calling so I guess we better get a move on."

Felicity watched until they disappeared into the elevator and then she went back to her apartment to face the music.

Sure enough, her mother was settled on the couch with a cup of tea, a sure sign that she intended to stay a while.

"How long?" Mara asked.

"How long what?" Felicity asked, already over this conversation and it had barely even started yet.

"How long have you been playing house with the most notorious womanizer in the history of Starling City?" Mara asked.

"Seriously, Mom?" Felicity asked in disbelief. "Is that really what you just saw here? Because what I saw is a father who has managed to successfully raise two incredibly precocious, adorable seven-year-old boys _by himself_. And for the record, I am not playing house with him. Oliver and I are friends and even that is brand new so just…_back off_."

"You're falling in love with him," Mara stated.

"I. _What?" _Felicity said. "No."

She shook her head.

"No more," she said. "I think between you and Francesca I've had about all the family bonding I can take for this week."

Mara softened.

"Felicity, I know your sister can be a bit much to take at the moment," she said. "But she's getting married in less than two months. She needs you to be supportive."

"Support is a two way street," Felicity said.

She let out a breath.

"I'll fix things with her," she said. "I just need a few more days to clear my head."

"Fair enough," Mara said. "I take it we won't see you tomorrow then?"

"Probably not," Felicity agreed.

"I love you, you know that," Mara said.

"Yeah, I know," Felicity said.

Mara gave her a hug and then left and Felicity was just stretching out on her bed, fighting the beginnings of a headache when her phone rang.

"Luca informed me that according to his Aunt Thea, the guy always has to call first," Oliver informed her. "And as loath as I am to confirm anything that Aunt Thea says, ever, as the man responsible for unleashing these two future heartbreakers on the world, I feel it's my responsibility to see that they master dating etiquette at an early age."

"What's etket?" Sebastian asked in the background.

Felicity laughed.

"I'm glad to see you're being diligent in all aspects of their education," she said.

"This is the part where we hang up so you can call back at a time that's actually convenient for you," Oliver said.

"Thoughtful," Felicity said.

"See boys, that's how it's done," Oliver said.

"Hey, Oliver?" Felicity said.

"Yeah," Oliver said.

"Thank you," Felicity said.

"For what?" Oliver asked.

"For understanding," Felicity said.

There was that knot in his chest again, Oliver thought.

"Back at you, Ace," he said. "Back at you."


	5. Sliding Doors (Part One)

**A/N: **I am super, super nervous about this chapter and the next one. It's one of the reasons I'm posting so soon after the last chapter. I just want to get it out here and see what you all think.

These two chapters are transitions of a sort. There's a lot of exposition since I wanted to lay out Oliver's back story as far as Helena and the twins but I didn't want to drag it out too much either. Some of this stuff will be revisited down the line when Felicity and Oliver have actual conversations about it but I wanted the reader's to be in the loop sooner.

I hope you guy's like it. Please let me know your thoughts!

* * *

When he was certain the boys were asleep, Oliver slowly got up from the rocking chair in the corner of their room. He switched off the light and quietly closed the door behind him as he stepped into the hallway. Padding to his own bedroom, he was greeted with the sight of his sister lying across his bed, flipping through a magazine.

"Make yourself right at home," Oliver drawled.

"I hear you went on a date today," Thea retorted.

"You were misinformed," Oliver said. "We went to the planetarium and to the park."

"With Felicity Smoak," Thea said.

Oliver frowned at her.

"This is the part when you tell me I'm your favorite sister," Thea said. "And that you're not sure how you're going to thank me for the enormous favor that I did you today. Then I give you a hint. Three words: Prada Fall Collection."

"Speedy, what are you even talking about?" he asked.

"It's lucky for you really, that I know people in low places," Thea said. "One of my contacts at Starling City's leading gossip blog gave me a heads up that they got some exclusive photos of you and the boys in the park with a woman that someone identified as working for Walter."

Oliver cursed under his breath.

"I managed to convince them not to run the pictures," Thea said.

"How?" Oliver demanded.

"By telling them that if they ran the story without the pictures and without mention of the boys, that I would give them an exclusive quote about the happy couple in the making," Thea said.

"You didn't," Oliver said flatly.

"Did you miss the part where the alternative was having the twins' faces splashed across the Internet?" Thea said. "Cause I was pretty sure you wouldn't have wanted that. And while this site is all about gossip, they're generally not malicious with it. I wouldn't have made the offer if I didn't think they would respect it."

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You're right," he said. "I'm sorry. I'm just…frustrated. By all of it."

Thea softened.

"I get that it's maddening but Ollie, what did you expect?" she said. "You left Starling city almost ten years ago. Everyone remembers Oliver Queen as a careless, reckless, party boy. They have no idea who you've become while you were gone."

She paused.

"Hell, I'm not even sure _I_ know who you've become while you were gone," she said. "If I'm honest, I kinda hate that."

Oliver crossed the room and sat down next to her.

"For starters, I'm not the careless, reckless party boy I used to be," Oliver said.

"That was never who you were," Thea said. "Just how you acted."

Oliver acknowledged that with a brief nod.

"Having kids, that changes everything under the best of circumstances," Oliver said. "I did not have the best of circumstances."

"So why did you wait so long?" Thea asked. "Before coming home? Before even telling us about them?"

"I made what I thought were the right choices," Oliver said. "I can't say now if they actually were or not but they're the ones I made, the ones I need to live with."

Thea rested her head on his shoulder.

"You're a great dad," she said.

"You think?" Oliver asked.

"I do," Thea said.

"Thanks," Oliver said.

"I missed you," Thea said. "I'm still not clear on why you decided to come back now but I'm glad you're here."

"I missed you too," Oliver said. "But do me another favor?"

"Are you going to add Cavalli Fall Collection to your vocabulary?" Thea asked.

"I thought it was Prada?" Oliver said.

"That was a different favor," Thea said with a grin.

Oliver snorted.

"Lay off the dating tips to my children, okay?" he said. "They're enough of a handful as it is."

Thea laughed much too wickedly for Oliver's liking as she skipped out the door. Rubbing a hand over the back of his head, Oliver got up and changed into his workout gear. Then he grabbed the other end of the monitor he'd set up in the boys' room and headed down to the gym in the basement.

He ran ten miles on the treadmill and then spent another forty minutes doing free weights before he headed back upstairs for a shower. He was in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich, when his phone rang.

"Hi, Felicity," he said.

"How'd you know it was me?" she asked.

"Psychic," Oliver deadpanned.

There was a beat of silence.

"Caller id. Duh, Felicity," she murmured. "Not sure where my head is at right now. Anyway, I was just calling to tell you I'm not going to dinner at my parent's house tomorrow so you're off the hook."

"Was it something I said?" Oliver teased lightly.

Felicity huffed out a breath.

"No, things are just a bit off at the moment," she said. "With me and my family. I need a couple days."

"Fight with your sister," Oliver said.

"You heard that, huh?" Felicity said.

"Want to talk about it?" Oliver asked.

"No," Felicity said. "Maybe? I mean I get it, you know? That this is her time. Theoretically, getting married is a once in a lifetime deal but it doesn't mean that I should have to put my entire life on hold to deal with all of her neuroses. And I hate feeling guilty for feeling that way."

"You need to find the right balance between your life and hers," Oliver said. "But don't feel guilty. That's the worst burden you can carry."

"Spoken like someone who would know," Felicity said softly.

"Yeah," Oliver agreed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Felicity asked.

Oliver was silent for so long, Felicity half expected to hear a dial tone ringing in her ear any second.

"Helena and I weren't together when she got pregnant," Oliver finally said. "In fact we were never actually in any kind of relationship, not in the healthy, committed sense of the word. It wasn't even a fling, more like an extended one night stand."

Felicity held her breath. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting him to say – if she'd been expecting him to say anything at all – but this wasn't it.

"To this day, I'm not entirely sure if she came to tell me she was pregnant because she knew about my family's money and connections," Oliver said. "Or because deep down a part her really did want me to stop her."

"Stop her?" Felicity queried.

"From having an abortion," Oliver said. "She threated it dozens of times, even went to a clinic once. Helena wasn't the most stable person in the world, mentally speaking. One minute, she would be sweet and thrilled with the idea of being pregnant, excited about feeling the baby move for the first time and then the next she'd be raging at me that she'd never wanted this and tearing the house apart looking for alcohol. I even caught her trying to score drugs around the corner from our house. It got to the point where I was terrified to let her out of my sight for fear of what she would do."

"I can't imagine what that was like for you," Felicity said. "And you were what? 19?"

" 20," Oliver said. "The whole time, I could never figure out the truth of whether she wanted them or she didn't. But I knew that I did and I knew that she wasn't going to take good enough care of herself or them if I left her to her own devices. But I still felt guilty at times; felt like I was forcing her into it."

He chuckled dryly.

"To be honest, I'm not sure I even understand what drove me. It's not like I actually thought I was ready to be a dad," Oliver said. "Because I absolutely wasn't."

"So what was it?" Felicity asked him.

"The only serious thought I'd ever had about fatherhood before then was that when the time came, I'd be a better dad to my kids than my father was to me and Thea," Oliver said. "And I've broken a lot of promises to a lot of people in my time. I was determined not to break that one."

"You've been through a lot," Felicity said quietly. "You've survived a lot. Not everyone would have."

"That's barely the half of it," Oliver said. "But it's enough for tonight, I think."

"Earlier," Felicity said, taking his cue to change the subject. "You called me Ace. How come?"

"I'm not sure," Oliver said. "Seems to fit you but if you don't like it…"

"No," Felicity said. "I don't mind. I was just curious."

"Good night, Ace," Oliver said. "Sweet dreams."

* * *

Oliver's internal clock woke him up at 6 am. A few minutes later, almost like clockwork, the door to his bedroom opened and Luca walked in sleepily, trailing a blanket with him. He hopped up onto the bed and tucked himself into his father's side before falling back asleep. Oliver rested his chin on top of Luca's head and waited for another few minutes to pass. Right on schedule Sebastian joined them, curling up on Oliver's other side.

The twins had been doing this practically every morning since they'd been old enough to sleep in their own beds. Oliver knew he should probably break them of the habit but it was like he'd told Felicity the other day. It had been just the three of them for a long time and this ritual was as much for him as it was for them. It had been years before he told anyone from his old life that he was a father and even then it had only been Raisa.

The twins were just shy of their fifth birthday before he told the rest of his family that they existed. And he hadn't told them much more than that. They'd accepted it, Oliver suspected, simply because they were glad to hear from him at all.

When he'd left Starling City behind, he wanted to put his family, his father's crimes, _himself_ behind him. He'd gone to L.A. but he hadn't lived the celebrity lifestyle, although he easily could have. Instead, he'd gone slumming for lack of a better term. He'd spent his nights in bars and clubs in rough neighborhoods and his days sleeping off the inevitable hangovers in cheap motels. His rare moments of sobriety had been spent at the beach.

He'd been spiraling and then he met Helena. She was like his own personal Queen of the Damned, leading him straight through the nine levels of hell. For those first few days and nights, he'd been completely out of his mind for her. It was one of the reasons he hadn't doubted her too much when she told him she was pregnant.

He'd still had a paternity test done when the boys were born but by that point, with everything it taken to see them take their first breaths, he wouldn't have cared if they hadn't been biologically his. They were his sons in all the ways it mattered. The fact that they turned out to be his own matching set of mini me's was just kind of ironic.

Sometimes, Oliver would let himself fall back asleep too once the boys were settled but other times, like this morning, he took advantage just to watch them and marvel. All of the instability during Helena's pregnancy had left Oliver completely unprepared for the practicalities of actually taking care of a baby, let alone two.

John Diggle's sister in law Carly had helped him out a couple of hours a day for the first few months until he had the basics down. But she had a young son of her own to look after and Oliver insisted, sooner rather than later, that he was fine on his own.

And he had been. He'd survived first fevers and teething and sleepless nights and countless diaper changes. He'd survived the moments of pure panic and others of bone numbing exhaustion. He'd gotten first words and first steps and bath times and story times and first days at school and eventually it had all started to feel a little bit more manageable, a little bit more normal.

When the twins were two, Oliver moved them all to San Francisco, figuring it was a saner place to try and raise kids than Los Angeles. They'd lived a comfortable if low-key life thanks to the money he'd transferred from his trust fund to an account he'd set up using his mother's maiden name, Dearden.

Eighteen months after the move, he'd met Sara; beautiful widowed Sara, who had lost her husband when she was six months pregnant with their baby daughter. They'd had a sweet and uncomplicated affair that was just passionate enough to remind Oliver that underneath all the trappings of fatherhood he was still a man and a young, healthy one at that.

He'd ended it when he decided that they would be moving again – to Dove Creek – but he suspected that she would have ended it of her own accord if he hadn't.

"Daddy, can we have bacon for breakfast?" Luca asked with his eyes still closed.

"I'm sure we can manage that," Oliver agreed. "Eggs, too?"

"Uh huh," Luca said.

"You have to actually wake up if you want breakfast," Oliver pointed out.

Luca sat up and rubbed his eyes. He gave Oliver a baleful look and then leaned over to poke his brother.

"Up," he ordered.

Sebastian rolled over onto his side and Luca went to poke him again but Oliver diverted his finger.

"Why don't we let him keep sleeping, okay?" he murmured.

He reached for the house phone and dialed his mother's room.

"Are you up?" he asked her.

"I was just going downstairs to get some coffee," she replied.

"Luca wants eggs and bacon for breakfast," Oliver said. "Bastian is still sleeping."

"Say no more," Moira said. "I'll take him down."

Oliver hung up the phone.

"Go meet Grandma in the hall," Oliver said. "We'll come downstairs in a little while, okay?"

"'Kay," Luca said, scrambling off the bed and into the hallway.

Oliver listened until the sounds of his mother and his eldest faded before turning on his side. Sebastian was flat on his back now and his clear blue eyes were wide open.

"Were you pretending to be asleep?" Oliver asked, feigning suspicion.

Sebastian smirked so Oliver did the sensible thing and started to tickle him. A series of shrieks and giggles resulted until Oliver finally relented.

"Can we go see Felicity today?" Sebastian wanted to know.

"Not today buddy," Oliver said. "Felicity needs a day just for Felicity."

He ruffled the boy's hair.

"You really like her, don't you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sebastian said. "She's shiny. Like sunshine."

Oliver had a sudden flash of Felicity in this bed, her hair spread out on one of his pillows and beams of sunlight playing across her face in the early morning.

Sebastian demanded his attention seconds later, deciding he was ready for breakfast but it was hours before Oliver was finally able to force the image from his mind.


	6. Sliding Doors (Part Two)

**A/N: **Thank you guys SO much for your feedback on the last chapter. It really helped me settle my nerves about where this story is headed and I can't tell you how much that means.

So glad to have you all along for this ride. Enjoy!

* * *

Oliver climbed out of his car as the door to the small plane parked on the private airstrip opened and John Diggle descended. They met each other half way on the tarmac.

"Oliver," Diggle said, holding out his hand. "It's good to see you."

Oliver shook the other man's hand and then pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you," Oliver said. "For having my back on this."

Diggle acknowledged that with a nod and let Oliver take his bag and stow it in the trunk of his truck.

"I had Raisa set up the guest house at Queen Manor for you," Oliver said. "It has direct access and it's far enough away from the main house that you won't be tripping over the rest of us and you can come and go as you please."

"Sounds good," Diggle said.

"Before we head there, there's somewhere I want to take you," Oliver said. "Someone I want you to meet."

Diggle narrowed his eyes slightly but he didn't comment so Oliver moved on to a different topic.

"How's Carly?" Oliver asked as he pulled into traffic and headed for the old Queen Consolidated factory in the Glades. "You two figure things out?"

"Depends on how you define figure things out," Diggle allowed.

Oliver glanced over at him.

"We tried," Diggle said. "But unfinished business kept getting in the way."

"I'm sorry," Oliver said, knowing that Diggle's search for his brother's killer had cost him more than just a failed relationship with Carly.

"Me too," Diggle said.

They made the rest of the drive in silence but it was comfortable

"What is this place?" Diggle asked as Oliver pulled a sliding door open and gestured for him to go inside.

"Used to be one of my father's factories," Oliver said. "It's been abandoned for years but it seemed like the last place anyone would look for Oliver Queen which makes it perfect for what we need."

Oliver flipped the light switch and watched Dig take in the set up.

"I get the work out equipment," Diggle said slowly. "But this computer network wouldn't be out of place at the Agency. You're good at a lot of things, Oliver but you're not that good at this."

"I guess that's my cue," Felicity said, appearing around the corner.

"John Diggle, meet Felicity Smoak," Oliver said. "She's…a friend."

"Nice to meet you, Felicity," Diggle said, shaking her hand.

"Likewise," Felicity said. "I've heard a lot of great things about you."

"So you're the tech wizard?" Diggle said.

"Guilty as charged," Felicity agreed. "We started setting this place up a couple days ago. I think it's still lacking some charm but all things considered it isn't too shabby."

Diggle smiled and shot Oliver a knowing look, which Oliver pointedly ignored.

"Dig was Helena's AA sponsor during her pregnancy," Oliver said. "Or at least, he tried to be. I think he helped me more than he did her in the end."

If Diggle was at all surprised that Oliver had no qualms discussing Helena in front of Felicity, he didn't let it show.

"You wanted my help," he said. "She didn't. Kind of makes a difference."

Felicity glanced at her watch.

"I have to be back at QC in an hour," she said apologetically.

"No, of course," Oliver said. "Dig why don't you fill us in on what you found out?"

Once Felicity had located Bertinelli, Oliver had asked Diggle to do some recon first in New York, and then in Miami.

"Seems like Bertinelli didn't leave New York on a whim," Diggle said. "His entente cordiale with the Russians was fraying; he lost seven of his guys and would have lost more if he pushed back at them any harder."

"Russians have presence in Miami too though," Oliver said.

"I don't think the move is permanent," Diggle said. "I think he set up shop in Miami to broker some alliances. The Italian families there are struggling to keep the Russians from taking over."

"But if Bertinelli backs them," Oliver said. "Then they can fight back."

He cursed under his breath.

"The man's going to start an all out war," he said.

"My contacts at the Bureau certainly seem to think so," Diggle agreed.

"I didn't see anything in the Bureau's database to suggest they're gearing up to intervene in something like that," Felicity said.

Diggle didn't bat an eyelash at the revelation that Felicity had been poking around in Federal files.

"The only sensible way to intervene is to get to Bertinelli before he kicks this shit storm into high gear," Diggle replied. "After that, you get out of the way and wait to see who's still standing when the dust settles."

Felicity digested that.

"I wonder if this war or whatever is what that text referred to as "the fall"," she said.

"What text?" Diggle asked.

"Ever since I figured out where Bertinelli was using Salvati's phone records, I've been trying to see if I could hack into the phone itself," Felicity said. "Turn out these guys use a _lot_ of burner phones so I had to write an entirely new program that could match the…"

She backtracked when she saw Diggle's eyes start to glass over a little.

"Basically I was able to extract a text message that I think was sent from Bertinelli to Salvati," Felicity said. "It said that after the fall they would take Romulus and Remus."

"The twins who founded Rome," Diggle said. 'You think it was a reference to Sebastian and Luca."

"Yeah," Felicity said. "We just couldn't work out what "the fall" meant but now…"

Oliver turned away from them and braced his hands against the wall.

"Oliver?" Felicity asked.

He could hear the concern in her voice and that knot that seemed to hold all of his thoughts and feelings about her, tightened.

"This war happens, then in addition to Bertinelli himself being a problem, the boys become targets for all of his enemies," Oliver said.

He was speaking to both of them but only Dig, who knew the full story, understood what Oliver wasn't saying.

"There could be another way," Diggle said. "Depends on how dirty you want your hands to be when it's over."

"When it's over, I want my family to be safe," Oliver said. "I don't really care how dirty my hands have to be to make that happen."

"Okay," Diggle said.

"I feel like I missed something here," Felicity said. "I'm normally not slow on the uptake so…"

Diggle looked back and forth between Oliver and Felicity. She looked worried and Oliver looked uncertain. It was enough to tell Diggle that while Oliver might have introduced Felicity as a friend, there were other emotions in play. Whether Oliver himself was aware of that was a different question altogether.

"I'm going to go make a call," Diggle said. "I'll give you guys a minute."

He slipped out the side door and Oliver waited until it was closed behind him to turn and face Felicity.

She took a step towards him but Oliver raised a hand to stop her. He already knew he was going to tell her the facts because she deserved that much honesty from him. It was the uncertainty about how she would react that worried him and made him realize that he felt like he had something to lose here. He'd known her less than a month still, but she'd somehow fit into all these parts of his life and the thought of her not being there was…troubling.

"Helena was in a car accident when she was eight months pregnant," Oliver said in a low voice. "She was drunk at the time and driving."

Felicity's hand flew to her mouth.

"She was fine and the babies were fine," Oliver continued. "But she killed two teenagers who were leaving the public library. They would've have put her in jail for who knows how long, babies or not, if the Feds hadn't turned up."

"They offered a deal," Felicity said.

"They were desperate to get anywhere near Bertinelli and it turns out that Helena had flirted with the idea of ratting on her father a few years before," Oliver said. "For reasons beyond me, she was reluctant to accept the deal. We fought about it like we fought about a lot of stuff and I…"

He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath.

"I forced the issue," Oliver said. "And I got her killed."

There was silence and Oliver didn't have it in him to look up just then, to see the expression on Felicity's face.

"I thought you said her father killed her," Felicity said.

"He did," Oliver said. "Because he thought she turned on him only she hadn't. I was the one that fed intel to the FBI, not her."

Forcing himself to man up, Oliver lifted his head and focused on Felicity. She looked a bit stunned but not disappointed or disgusted or any of the other things Oliver might have imagined.

"There was a ledger," Oliver said. "She didn't think I knew about it but I did."

"You turned it over," Felicity guessed.

"No," Oliver said. "I still have it actually. I didn't want to play all my cards at once. I told the FBI I would give them enough information to nail two of Bertinelli's lieutenants if they kept Helena safe in the hospital until after the babies were born and took her into Wit Sec afterwards."

He rubbed his hands over his jaw.

"I didn't love her and looking back on it, I didn't always treat her the way I should have," Oliver said. "But I never meant for her to be exposed, to get hurt."

"I believe you," Felicity said.

Oliver gave her a sharp look but saw nothing but sincerity reflected back at him. This time, when she moved closer, he didn't stop her.

"Turns out there are a few federal agents on Bertinelli's payroll," Oliver said mirthlessly. "They came to take her into protective custody two days after the boys were born. No one thought anything of it until news came that there had been an accident with no survivors."

"Were they able to prove it was him?" Felicity said.

"There was evidence that the car was sabotaged," Oliver said. "But none linking him directly to it."

"That must have been difficult to deal with," Felicity said. "Especially since you were adjusting to taking care of the babies."

Oliver shook his head.

"Why don't you think I'm awful?" he asked her.

Felicity blinked at him in surprise and then realized that he was serious. On the heels of that came the realization of how many regrets and recriminations Oliver had been bottling up all these years.

"You're not awful," Felicity said firmly.

She reached out and took his hand in hers.

"You lived through something awful," she said. "Several somethings, actually."

"That's not an excuse," Oliver said.

"Nor was it meant to be," Felicity said. "All I'm saying is that I don't think you're a bad person. I think you did what you thought was right and maybe you did get some things wrong but I'm not going to be the one to judge you."

Slowly, Oliver shifted his hand so that he could interlace his fingers with Felicity's. He heard an extremely quiet intake of breath on her part, as if the gesture surprised her, but she didn't pull away.

"What Dig said before," Oliver said. "About how there could be another way. You know what he was saying, right? What the alternative is if I don't go to the authorities."

And since she _wasn't_ slow on the uptake, Felicity did understand.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," she said quietly.

"They'll take him out first," Oliver said. "Then dismantle his organization piece by piece. The only problem with that is that it gives them license to expand and Felicity, these aren't good people. They sell guns and drugs and those things affect the lives of innocent people."

He looked her right in the eye then and Felicity could see how hard he was struggling with this decision.

"How far do you have to go before protecting your children no longer justifies the collateral damage?" Oliver asked her. "How far before you can't look yourself in the mirror anymore?"

"What if there was a way to have the Russians take Bertinelli out and then use the authorities to stall their expansion?" Felicity asked.

"About the only thing more dangerous than making a deal with a gangster," Oliver said, "is making it and then double crossing them."

"I'm not talking about a double cross, exactly," Felicity said. "Just because you turn over the information in the ledger to them doesn't mean you can't still use it. I'm sure we can find ways to monitor what they do with it and feed – anonymously obviously – pieces of information to say, Diggle's contacts at the Bureau."

She smiled at him.

"We'll be like a secret organized crime task force," she said. "You, me and Dig. It's not the same thing as dismantling piece by piece but maybe it helps restore the balance."

"What's to stop the Russians from catching on?" Oliver asked.

"Tell them up front that Helena had other copies of the ledger," Felicity said. "As insurance. Tell them you're not sure where they are. That way if suspicions are raised down the line, the seed will have been planted."

"It's not a bad idea," Diggle said from the doorway.

Felicity started at the sight of the older man who seemed to have reappeared without making a sound. She tried to discreetly pull her hand away from Oliver's but he tightened his grip.

"Why don't we meet here tomorrow," Felicity suggested. "Bring the ledger, I'll bring lunch and we can all put our heads together. Sound like a plan?"

Oliver nodded.

"It does," he said.

"I really do have to get back," Felicity said.

She stood up but Oliver still had a hold of her hand and now his thumb was rubbing circles across her palm.

"Thank you," he said softly.

"Don't mention it," she said lightly. "It was nice meeting you, Diggle. It's okay that I call you that, right? Oliver said that's what most people call you and…"

"It's fine," Diggle assured her with a smile.

Felicity returned it and gave them a small wave before she disappeared out the door. Dig turned to look at Oliver and had to stifle a hearty laugh.

"You don't even know yet, do you?" Diggle asked.

"Know what?" Oliver asked.

"Nothing man," Diggle said. "Not a thing."


	7. Spotted In Starling City

**A/N: **I want to thank you all for the support you've continued to give this story. I really appreciate it. I'm having a grand time writing this and your comments just make all the more fun for me. Keep 'em coming!

Enjoy!

* * *

"And make sure you pick up those specs from Applied Sciences for Mr. Steele," Felicity told her friend and colleague, Amanda. "He mentioned wanting to include them in the R&D Committee meeting materials."

"Okay," Amanda said, making a note on her iPad.

The two of them walked up to the elevator bank just as Isabel Rochev emerged from one of the conference rooms opposite. She gave Felicity a hate filled stare and stalked past them.

"The hell?" Felicty muttered under her breath. "Did I kill her puppy in a past life or something?"

Amanda choked on a laugh.

"Pretty sure she's just jealous," Amanda said.

"Isabel Rochev?" Felicity said disbelievingly. "Jealous of me? For what?"

Amanda looked around to make sure no one was listening to them and she lowered her voice.

"She's been after Oliver Queen ever since he got back," Amanda said. "He's barely looked at her. Now that she's knows you're the reason why…well, you do the math."

Felicity shook her head, hoping that would restore order to the universe but Amanda was staring at her expectantly as if everything she'd just said should have made perfect sense.

"Amanda, what are you talking about?" Felicity asked.

Amanda rolled her eyes.

"I know you're trying to keep things on the down low," she said. "That's why I haven't demanded details although for the record I am hurt, truly hurt, that you didn't think to tell me you were dating the sexiest man in Starling City."

"That I'm _what?"_ Felicity said, aghast.

"The cat's out of the bag, Felicity," Amanda said. "_Spotted_ _In Starling _ran that story about you guys having a romantic picnic in the park the other day. And you and Oliver might be all hush hush but his sister told them all about how he's totally smitten with you and that she thinks this could be the real deal."

Felicity opened her mouth but for once words completely failed her.

"It's fine," Amanda said. "Like I said, I get that you don't want to talk about it. Just promise me that when you _are_ ready, you'll talk to me first."

Felicity nodded mutely because she had no idea what the appropriate response would have been otherwise. She was still too stunned by the revelation that all of Starling City apparently thought she and Oliver were on their way to white picket fences.

"Okay, forget what I just said," Amanda said moments later. "There's one thing I need to know. On a scale of one to amazing, how good a kisser is he?"

Felicity blinked.

"I…he…" she sputtered.

"That good, huh?" Amanda said. "That's what I thought."

She nudged Felicity in the side.

"You lucky bitch," she said.

The elevator doors slid open but Felicity made no move to get in.

"I need to uh…" Felicity stuttered. "There's a call I should…"

She gestured in the direction of her office.

"Sure," Amanda said knowingly. "See you later."

Felicity stumbled back to her office, more grateful than ever that her promotion to head of the IT department six months ago had come with a proper office that afforded her a level of privacy she hadn't had in her cubicle.

Closing the door, she sank into her plush leather chair and reached for her cell phone with a shaky hand. Oliver picked up on the second ring.

"Hey," he said. "I wasn't expecting your call until later."

His words brought Felicity far enough out of the haze that had descended on to her brain to remember that Oliver and Diggle were going to meet with the Russians later. With a man named Anatoli Knyazev to be precise. He was apparently quite high up the Bratva chain in this part of the country. He also happened to be Raisa's half brother.

"Oh," Felicity said.

She licked her lips.

"Actually, I wasn't calling about…that," Felicity said.

"Is something wrong?" Oliver asked.

Felicity laughed, painfully aware that the sound was tinged with something approaching hysteria.

"Well, I guess that depends on how you feel about being in a relationship with me," Felicity said. "Because apparently most of Starling City thinks we're a thing. A serious thing that leads to things like mini vans and puppies and houses in the suburbs although if you think about it Queen Manor and the acres surrounding it are practically a suburb of their own and…"

"Felicity," Oliver said. "Take a breath."

Felicity closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Okay," Oliver said. "Now why don't you…shit. The blog."

"You _knew?" _Felicity demanded, whatever calm she'd momentarily attained shattered all over again.

"Sort of," Oliver said. "Those teenagers in the park sold the photos to some gossip blog. Thea found out about it and made a deal with them; her quote in exchange for not running the photos or mentioning the boys. I meant to tell you about it then you told me about Bertinelli's text message and I…forgot."

"Oh," Felicity said.

"I'm sorry," Oliver said. "Is it making things weird for you?"

"The fact that everyone I work with thinks I'm dating the boss's son?" Felicity said. "No, why would that be weird?"

She groaned.

"Walter and your mother must think…" she started.

"I can set them straight," Oliver offered. "Though for the record they'll probably be disappointed that there isn't more truth to it."

"You can't say things like that, Oliver," Felicity said.

She was having a hard enough time harnessing all her feelings as it was. It was one thing to spend a few moments here or there thinking about what it would be like to be with Oliver in a romantic way or in a sexual way. But having the world at large believe it was happening? Having him imply that his family would actually be pleased if it was? That was taking things out of the realm of fantasy and into a reality that she was not prepared to deal with, precisely because she knew that it wasn't real.

Oliver wasn't interested in her like that. There wasn't any reason for him to be and allowing any ideas to the contrary to float around her brain for long would only lead to trouble.

"You're right," Oliver said. "It's better to be honest. Maybe it's me who's disappointed that there isn't more truth to it."

"Come again," Felicity choked out.

Oliver let out a gruff chuckle.

"This isn't exactly how I imagined having this conversation," he said.

"Because you imagined this conversation?" Felicity asked, unable to keep the note of disbelief from her voice.

"We've only known each other a short time," Oliver said. "And most of that time has been spent dealing with things that no one could possibly classify as normal. It's been intense in a heightened reality sort of way. And then there's the boys and the fact that they've been looking for a Felicity since they were old enough to understand what it meant not to have a mother."

"Oliver," Felicity said, his name feeling heavy on her tongue.

"Let me finish," Oliver said, his voice sounding low and gravelly to her ears.

"Okay," Felicity said.

"I feel things for you, Felicity," Oliver said. "I just wanted to be sure that they were about _you_ and not anyone or anything else before I said anything."

"Wow," Felicity said.

"Wow?" Oliver repeated. "Is that good or bad?"

"I'm sorry," Felicity said. "I was not expecting any of this and it seems slightly insane. Okay, completely insane if we're being honest. You're…and I'm just…"

"Listen there's no pressure here," Oliver told her. "If you don't reciprocate the sentiment, I'm not going to hold it against you. It's fine. We can…"

"No, it's not that," Felicity said. "Or not exactly. It's…you're not like any man I know, definitely not like any man who's ever showed an interest in me before and I just assumed that I wasn't your type."

"I think you underestimate your appeal," Oliver said lightly. "Even to us billionaire playboy types."

Felicity winced.

"And now I've offended you," she said. "Fantastic."

"Relax," Oliver said. "I'm not offended. I'm glad all of this is out in the open now."

"You are?" Felicity asked.

"I am," Oliver said. "Because now I won't feel like an ass for asking you to have a drink with me."

"Oh," Felicity said. " I guess that means I don't have to feel like an ass for saying yes."

Oliver laughed and the sound was warm and rich and set what felt like an entire swarm of butterflies loose in the pit of Felicity's stomach.

"How about tomorrow night?" Oliver said. "I'll pick you up after work."

"Tomorrow night," Felicity agreed. "I'll see you then."

They hung up and Felicity set her cell on her desk and stared at it, wondering if that entire conversation had been a hallucination. Her computer pinged drawing her attention to the emails piling up in her inbox and that was enough to shift her back into work mode.

The rest of her day passed with little incident although the knowing looks she got from a number of the other employees made a whole lot more sense now than they had before. As did Francesca's avoidance, Felicity realized. She'd reached out to her sister a couple of times and hadn't heard a word. If Francesca had seen the article about her and Oliver – and she was the type to keep up with that sort of stuff – she probably thought Felicity was blowing her off in favor of her supposed new romance.

Shaking her head, Felicity packed up her stuff and left the office. She stopped by her favorite Italian bakery for some tiramisu to go and then drove to Francesca's town house. Her sister opened the door but made no move to let her in.

"Managed to tear yourself away from your lover long enough to remember me?" Francesca said.

Felicity rolled her eyes.

"You know perfectly well that I've been trying to fix this for days," Felicity said. "And I brought tiramisu but you can't have any if you're going to be difficult about it."

Francesca pursed her lips but she stepped back and allowed Felicity to come inside.

"Liam here?" Felicity asked.

"He's in Houston on business," Francesca answered as they made straight for the kitchen.

Felicity set the tiramisu on the table and Francesca pulled two spoons from the drawer and handed one to Felicity.

"What you said to me on the street the other day," Felicity began.

"I said I was sorry," Francesca pointed out.

"I know you are and I know you didn't mean it," Felicity said. "Not really the problem. The problem is you said it to hurt me because I didn't do what you wanted when you wanted it."

She took a bite of tiramisu and waited to see if Francesca would argue.

She didn't.

"So here's the thing," Felicity continued. "I am genuinely happy and excited for you. Liam is perfect for you and I totally get you wanting this wedding to be flawless. But you need to understand that the world doesn't stop because you're planning your wedding and that being the center of attention is fine as the bride to be but it's not an excuse for being self absorbed."

"This is your version of "fixing it"?" Francesca questioned.

"It is," Felicity said. "Because we can't fix anything if we're not honest and I need you trust me that when I say I can't do something –right away or at all – then I have a good reason for it."

"Fair enough," Francesca said slowly. "I've just never seen you put a guy first like this is all. I guess I was surprised, especially since you didn't tell me the truth about it."

She put her spoon down.

"Why didn't you?" she asked.

"I did tell you the truth," Felicity said. "I am not dating Oliver Queen. Or at least not yet."

"Thanks for clearing that up," Francesca said with a straight face.

"The thing you saw on _Spotted_ isn't what you think," Felicity said. "We took his kids to the planetarium and the park. The story that ran implying there was something between me and Oliver was basically just damage control; a way to keep his sons out of the public eye."

"So you two are friends and nothing more?" Francesca said skeptically. "Mom told me all about the sundaes at your place. She seems to think you're falling head over heels for him."

"Mom is exaggerating," Felicity said. "But I do like him. A lot."

"How does he feel?" Francesca asked.

"The same," Felicity said. "Which is why we're going out tomorrow. I don't think either of us intends to rush anything though, not least because of twins."

"You sure you're ready for something like that?" Francesca asked. "Don't get me wrong, I totally see the attraction; he's gorgeous, he's rich and you're a good judge of character so if you like him he can't be the entitled prick everyone seems to think he is. But children is a whole different thing."

"Sebastian and Luca are awesome," Felicity said. "I like them and they seem to like me but we are a long way from co-parenting. So I'm going to give myself more than 12 hours to decide how I'd feel if it ever did come to that."

She gave her sister an amused look.

"If that's okay with you?" she asked.

"Shut up and eat your tiramisu," Francesca said, shaking her head.

"We good now?" Felicity asked.

"What are you wearing on this date tomorrow?" Francesca asked.

Felicity smiled knowing that they were in fact back on track.

"No idea," Felicity said.

Francesca glanced at her watch.

"Lucky for you the stores are still open," she said. "Come on."

"But the tiramisu…" Felicity said.

"Is not more important than blowing Oliver Queen's mind when he gets his first look at you tomorrow," Francesca finished for her. "Trust me on that."

"Do I have to?" Felicity grumbled, putting the dessert aside and picking up her purse.

"I'm your big sister," Francesca said. "So, yes."

"Pushy," Felicity teased.

"You love me," Francesca countered. "Which is why I put up with you."

"And here I thought it was because I know all your secrets," Felicity said. "Does Liam know about that time that you…"

"Be quiet," Francesca said good-naturedly. "Liam knows everything he needs to about me. Speaking of Liam though, his brother is going to be gutted."

"Why?" Felicity asked frowning as they climbed into her sister's car.

"Mom spent the whole lunch talking you up to him," Francesca said. "I think he's half in love with you already."

"Then you better not leave me alone with him," Felicity said.

"Why?" Francesca said. "Would Oliver Queen object?"

"Can you stop it with the first and last name thing?" Felicity said. "And I don't know if he would but I do."

"It could be tough," Francesca said seriously. "He is Liam's best man…"

Felicity shot her sister a look and Francesca groaned.

"The only way I'm giving in to what you're asking me without asking me is if you start bringing him around before the wedding so everyone gets used to him," Francesca said. "I'm not about to be upstaged at my own wedding because your billionaire is a novelty to our family and friends."

Felicity smiled.

"Mine, huh?" she said.

"And you say you're not in love," Francesca said with a snort. "I can't wait to see what it'll look like when you are."

"I think," Felicity said. "That might make two of us."


	8. A Day In The Life of Oliver Queen

**A/N: Sorry to keep you all waiting so long for this chapter. Time has been flying and not in a good way. I know a lot of you are anxious for Oliver and Felicity's first date. I promise that takes place in the next chapter. This chapter though, the plot bunnies want what they want.**

I hope you enjoy it just the same!

Reviews are always 3

* * *

"We will not speak again," Knyazev said. "But you will know when it is done."

"Understood," Oliver said.

"My sister speaks highly of you," Knyazev continued. "Says you are a good man. What you do here, to protect your family, I respect it."

Oliver nodded but he didn't respond. He wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that a man who'd probably torn dozens if not hundreds of families apart was complimenting him on his family values.

Knyazev barked something to one of his colleagues as he turned away from Oliver and back towards the Mercedes that he'd arrived in.

Oliver waited until they'd all driven away before walking to the truck where Diggle was waiting. He climbed into the passenger seat.

"You don't look any worse for the wear so I'm assuming it went as well as can be expected," Diggle said.

"Basically," Oliver agreed.

"Regrets?" Diggle asked.

"Not yet," Oliver said.

"Works for me," Diggle said.

He switched the engine on and pointed the car in the direction of Starling City.

"Where to now?" he asked.

"Wanna grab a coffee?" Oliver asked.

"Sure," Diggle said.

Oliver plucked out his cell phone and called home to check in on the twins. He caught them just as they were getting ready for bed so he spent a few minutes on the phone with them both and promised he'd be home when they woke up in the morning.

Then he texted Felicity that he and Diggle were both fine and that he'd fill her in on the details later.

"You're going to have to tell me where we're going exactly," Diggle said.

Oliver gave him directions to a diner that was somewhere between downtown Starling and the Glades. Once they were settled into a corner booth and had ordered coffee and pie, Dig decided to push. He'd known Oliver several years now and while they hadn't always kept in the closest touch, Dig felt he knew the man Oliver was today better than most.

Which is how he knew that the offer to stop for coffee wasn't about caffeine.

"What's on your mind, Oliver?" Diggle asked.

"Felicity," Oliver said.

"Ah," Diggle said. "I was wondering when you'd come around to that."

"Meaning?" Oliver asked.

"Granted I've never really seen you with any woman other than Helena," Diggle said. "But I have seen you with people in general and you're different with Felicity. I just didn't think you realized it."

"Your faith in my self awareness is heart-warming," Oliver said dryly.

Diggle snorted.

"We're having a drink tomorrow," Oliver said.

"Nervous?" Diggle asked.

"Yes," Oliver admitted.

He tapped his fingers against the table as he sorted through his thoughts.

"I don't know the first thing about building a real, honest, relationship with a woman," Oliver said.

"What about Laurel?" Diggle asked. "You told me you were with her for a couple of years."

"I was a kid," Oliver said. "A stupid one at that."

"But you loved her," Diggle said.

"I thought I did," Oliver agreed. "But even if I had, I treated her and that relationship like something…disposable. I cheated on her, I lied to her and I never once put what she needed before what I wanted."

He shot Diggle a wry look.

"How's that for self aware?" he said.

Dig laughed.

"Pretty good," he allowed. "Look, Oliver, if you want relationship advice I'm the last guy you should be asking."

He paused as the waitress poured their coffee and placed a slice of apple pie and ice cream in front of each of them.

"The only thing I can tell you," Diggle said, "is that relationships are about trust. Based on the fact that you involved her in this and that she agreed to help, I'm thinking the two of you already have that. And the fact that you told her about Helena, tells me there's honesty between you as well. That's a more solid foundation than a lot of people start out with."

"True," Oliver agreed, taking a sip of coffee.

"What else?" Dig asked, setting down his fork.

"I know this probably falls into the category of getting ahead of myself," Oliver said. "But that's what parents do so…"

"You're worried about how a relationship with Felicity would affect the twins?" Diggle asked.

"Not really," Oliver said. "I mean, I worry about how it would affect them if it doesn't work out because they adore her. But what I was going to say is that I'm not sure how fair it is to her."

"Felicity doesn't strike me as the type of woman who would let things get serious between you if she didn't think she could handle your kids as well as you," Diggle said. "But considering as your first date isn't in the books yet, I'm thinking you still have some time before you need to know that for sure."

"Yeah," Oliver said.

"For what it's worth," Diggle added. "I think this is a good thing; you giving it a chance."

"Thanks," Oliver said with a smile.

Oliver settled the bill after they'd finished eating then and dropped Diggle off at the guesthouse on his way back up the main house. It was late but both his mother and Raisa were up when he walked in.

"Hi," Oliver said, walking into the salon where his mother was watching TV.

"Hello, sweetheart," Moira said. "Everything okay?"

"Fine," Oliver agreed. "The boys behave tonight?"

"Like angels," Moira said.

"They must not be feeling well," Oliver joked.

Moira smiled.

"They're no more trouble than you were at that age," she said. "Which is saying something because there are two of them and there was only one of you."

Oliver returned the smile and Moira cocked her head to one side.

"You seem…lighter," she said. "Being home agrees with you."

She gave him a knowing look.

"Or maybe it's someone you've been seeing a lot of lately?" she said.

"Subtle, Mother," Oliver said. "You should know that what you read about me and Felicity isn't true."

"Oh," Moira said.

"But I did ask her out," Oliver said. "So maybe, at some point in the distant future, it will be."

Moira reached out and gave his hand a squeeze.

"I'm very glad to hear that," she said. "For both of your sake's."

"Good night," Oliver said.

He dropped a kiss on top of her head and went to the kitchen. Raisa was reading at the counter with a pot of tea next to her. She looked up at his approach and Oliver closed the distance to pull her into a hug.

"I know it wasn't easy for you to reach out to him after all this time," Oliver told her quietly.

Raisa had cut her ties with the life decades ago, before she came to work for the Queen family. She hadn't spoken to her half brother in more than thirty years until last week.

"Anything for you and those precious little ones, _medvezhonok_," Raisa said. "I'm happy I could help."

Oliver pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Thank you," he said simply.

* * *

"Luca, come out from under there," Oliver said, trying to sound stern.

He knew he was failing because the truth of it was that he was actually kind of amused. It was a conundrum that had presented itself often over the last seven years with both boys but Luca in particular.

"No," was the muffled response he got.

"Your brother and your grandmother are waiting for us downstairs," Oliver said.

"Don't care," Luca replied.

Sighing, Oliver got down on the floor and slid his body under the bed – no small feat – so that he could talk to Luca face to face.

"You can't stay under here forever," Oliver pointed out.

"Yes, I can," Luca said stubbornly.

"What about food?" Oliver said.

"Babulya will bring me food," Luca said.

"What about going to the bathroom and taking a bath?" Oliver asked.

"I can stay in my room forever," Luca amended since the bathroom was technically attached.

"Well, what about all the people who live outside your room and who would miss you if you didn't come out?" Oliver asked. "Like your Aunt Thea, and your grandparents and Felicity."

"They could come visit," Luca said.

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" Oliver said.

Luca grinned.

"Buddy, you're going to have to go to school," Oliver said. "There's no way around that. But the purpose of this morning is for you and Sebastian to pick a school that you actually want to go to. So if you stay here and don't come with us, you won't get to have an opinion."

Luca pouted.

"But why?" he asked.

"Because Daddy makes the rules," Oliver said. "You ready to come out now?"

Luca grumbled under his breath but he crawled out from under the bed. Oliver managed to wriggle his way out as well and without bumping his head, which he considered an accomplishment. Luca dragged his heels but he eventually put his shoes on and followed his father downstairs.

"We all ready now?" Moira asked, her hand resting on Sebastian's shoulder.

"As close to it as we're going to get," Oliver said.

The drive to the first of the schools they were going to visit that morning took about ten minutes. It was a highly rated private school close to Queen Manor. Oliver could tell after all of five minutes that his sons would be miserable there. The looks on their faces as the administrator giving them the tour droned on and on about the history and the curriculum and the rules, said it all.

Discreetly, Oliver pulled his cell phone from his pocket and texted Felicity.

_Call me._

Less than a minute later, his phone rang. Oliver gave his mother and the tour guide an apologetic look but hung back to pick up.

"Hey," Felicity said. "Everything okay?"

"I have to apologize," Oliver said. "Because I am going to shamelessly use this phone call as an excuse to get me and the twins out of the rest of this private school tour that we're on."

Felicity laughed.

"Moira mentioned you were going to look at schools when she stopped by QC the other day," Felicity said.

"My mother came to see you?" Oliver asked, distracted.

"No, she was having lunch with Walter when I dropped off some files," Felicity explained.

"Ah," Oliver said.

He glanced back over his shoulder and saw his mother giving him a suspicious look.

"I think she's on to me," Oliver said.

"Tell her that Victor Tomic from QC's beta division is the one who called you," Felicity said. "That he says they want you to come in and test the prototype for 246."

"And she'll believe this why?" Oliver asked.

"It was her idea," Felicity said. "I'm sure Victor probably will call you at some point this week."

"A genius and a lifesaver," Oliver said.

"Bargain deal," Felicity quipped.

"Definitely," Oliver said "So I'll see you later?"

"You will," Felicity said. "Is 6:30 okay?"

"It's perfect," Oliver said.

"Good luck with the rest of the schools," Felicity said.

"I have a feeling I'll need it," Oliver said. "Bye."

He hung up and slipped his cell phone back into his pocket.

"Sorry about that," he said catching up with the tour. "I'm going to have to cut this short though."

Moira arched an eyebrow.

"Victor someone from QC's beta division?" he said. "Apparently they want me to test some kind of prototype."

"Now?" Moira asked.

"No, early this afternoon," Oliver said. "Since we have a couple of other schools to visit…"

He gave the administrator one of his most charming smiles.

"I think we've seen everything we need here," he said. "We'll be in touch."

With that he ushered the boys towards the exit.

"You're not going to make us go here, are you, Dad?" Sebastian asked worriedly.

"It's horrible," Luca agreed.

"I won't make you go here," Oliver promised.

"You could have at least pretended that you weren't running for your lives," Moira said, when they were all settled back into the car.

She was smiling though so Oliver knew she wasn't actually upset.

"Was that really Victor on the phone?" she asked him.

"Sure," Oliver said guilelessly.

"And you wonder where these two get it from," Moira said.

They made it through the other four schools on the list in record time and from Oliver's perspective they were down to a charter school thirty minutes away from the house and a public school nearby to Queen Consolidated's office building. The twins seemed to like both equally so Oliver planned do a bit more research before making a final decision.

After dropping his mother and the twins off at the Manor, Oliver headed downtown to take care of a few errands. He picked up a couple of new shirts since his current wardrobe was sadly lacking in date appropriate apparel. Then he picked up a new jigsaw puzzle for the twins and a sleeveless red and turquoise striped dress from Prada's fall collection for Thea. The last stop he made was at the florist where he picked up a bouquet of calla lilies for Raisa and blue orchids for Felicity.

He was just walking back out onto the street when his cell phone rang. It was the caretaker at the vineyard.

"Daniel," Oliver said warmly. "Everything all set?"

"Yes, sir," Daniel replied. "We'll expect the helicopter at seven."

"Excellent," Oliver said.

"Is there anything in particular I can bring up from the cellar for you?" Daniel asked.

Oliver gave it some thought.

"The Rothschild '53," he finally said. "I think she'll like that."

"I'm sure she will, sir," Daniel said. "We'll have it ready and waiting."


End file.
